Poignant photos of the last of Mumbai’s iconic Irani cafes

Mumbai is famous for many things, and one of those things is its street-corner ‘Irani cafes‘ which ‘sprouted up in the late 18th and early 19th centuries due to an influx of Persian immigrants’.

They sell ‘sugary milk tea and bun-muska (freshly baked bread lathered with butter)’, where actors, workers and out-of-work youth spent loads of time. Today, the cafes are closing down and making way for fast-food restaurants and chain cafes. In fact, no more than 25 of these cafes survive. Take a look at these photos to see the quaint charm of each cafe and hope that history doesn’t get bulldozed in favor for profit.